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286 of 310 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Part Galileo, part Stephen King...brilliant & frightening, March 10, 2003
This review is from: The War on Freedom: How and Why America was Attacked, September 11, 2001 (Paperback)
"Afghanistan had been planned for several years prior to the terrible tragedy that occurred on 11th September on US soil...[It] then considers the development of Afghanistan as well as within the United States, as a consequence of the US-led military intervention that began Ocotber 2001....Neither the facts, nor the inferences I draw therefrom, are palatable. However, they are worthy of urgent consideration, not only from members of the public, but by our purported political leaders and representatives..." "...Huey Long once said, 'Fascism will come to America in the name of anti-fascism'. I'm afraid, based on my own long experience, that fascism will come to America in the name of national security." Nafeez Moseaddeq Ahmed, Preface
and quote from Jim Garrison, New Orleans
District Attorney, 1967, from the Conclusion
THE WAR ON FREEDOM There are not words to describe the courage it will take anyone, conservative or liberal, left, right or center, to read this book from cover to cover and sit with the new world you will be looking at afterwards. Ahmed, through more than *six hundred* footnotes, political and historical analysis, quotes of everyone from European and Afghani political analysts to New York stockbrokers to American congressman and FBI agents--and some of the most erudite, plain language scholarship I have ever read--irrevocably changes one's view of history and current events such that one is left with the profoundly disturbing fact not by saying that his main theory is true, but by proving unqeustionably that it is POSSIBLE. This is not an America-hating rant, the likes of which would make it the international antithesis (i.e. siamese twin) of much of the pro-American "literature" coming from the far right nowadays. This is scholarship the likes of which can only demand a paradigm shift in one's thinking, regardless of how you choose to reinterpret his fact-finding when you put the book down. If you've ever wondered what the Catholic bishops must have felt when reading the work of Galileo for the first time, or the Protestant community of the 19th century reading the work of Darwin, or what the Newtonian physics scientific community felt seeing Einstein prove his point about relativity, the scholarship of Ahmed will let you know in perhaps the most politically frightening way possible. Ahmed in fact, does not rely on the rogue scholars we are familiar with for the bulk of his work. He quotes BODY OF SECRETS: INSIDE THE NSA, the work of Gore Vidal like THE GOLDEN AGE, and 9-11 by Noam Chomsky as mere redundancies, adding to the mountain of evidence he has generated leading one to the inevitable conclusion that is the book's theme. In the end, whether or not you choose to follow Ahmed to the end of his theories, you will be left with a totally new understanding of the secret architecture and raison d'etre of both modern history and modern war. If you didn't know that FDR knew the Japanese were going to attack Pearl Harbor because he set America up to be bombed in 1941 in order to get the isolationist minded American populace to join World War Two--and how he did it--you will learn it here. If you didn't know that there were plans in the military (kept classified until the Freedom of Information Act of 1975) of terrorizing and even killing American citizens in Miami and throughout Florida in such a way that it would look like Castro's military did it to justify an American invasion of Cuba in 1962, you will learn it here. If you didn't know that the total absence of military response to the hijacking of American planes before they hit the World Trade Center on Septemeber 11th is something that has NEVER happened before in FAA or military history, you will learn it here. If you had no idea of the unusual and otherwise inexplicably heavy trade on the stock market that took place days before Septemeber 11th regarding Airline and oil stocks, you will learn it here. And if you can find a way to digest all of that, plus 1) hundreds of other provable historical/foreign policy facts of the European/American 20th Century from a plethora of credible sources--in and out of America--he brings to light, 2) the political/economic agendas behind the secret psychological architecture of modern day war explained with amazing clarity, 3) the revealing of our current Administration's relationship with International Oil cartels for the past three generations, and 4) the seemingly infinite number of both otherwise inexplicable anamolies AND examples of unprecedented ineptitude regarding both the intelligence community and the military's failure to prevent 9/11 from happening, WITHOUT coming to the same conclusions the writer of this book does...than God bless you. I cannot. This is just a little bit bigger than a phony land deal in Arkansas and some oral sex in the Oval Office. Ahmed makes it clear through the WAR ON FREEDOM that it is time for a full investigation of our Administration. If for no other reason as it will be the only thing that could make this nightmare of a book go away. There are some books every American should read to strengthen their own mind or enrich their own lives. This is one book every American needs to read in order to save our Nation's soul. Remain ignorant at the cost of your own freedom.
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83 of 90 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Bible on 9-11, May 29, 2003
This review is from: The War on Freedom: How and Why America was Attacked, September 11, 2001 (Paperback)
Information overload is what the reader will experience very quickly. The author (a British Scholar) in addition to his own observations, cites well over 500 footnotes including articles, interviews, Senate committee hearing transcripts, FBI interviews, and other news sources. Because of the gravity of the subject matter I believe the author has done this on purpose, realizing that any intelligent reader, will most likely discriminate between what they perceive to be a truly valid and vital source, and what could possibly be dismissed as speculation, or simply independent observation. In other words, even if you threw out half of the information, what you would still be left with is an overwhelming amount of credible information and facts, that should at the very least, (assuming you're not brain dead), raise some serious questions in your mind, even if you are the most cynical skeptic. Many people still believe that the Sept 11th attacks were not preceded by any type of clear and imminent warnings of some type. This is hardly the case and the author does an excellent job in proving this. After watching the 911 Commission hearings that were held recently, the questions and observations posed by some of the panel members confirm this without a doubt. There is some essential background information on Afghanistan the author takes you though before he gets into the meat of things. This is necessary in order to understand what drives American foreign policy and interests. He then takes you through what our intelligence community knew, and when they knew it. Chapter 5 is the most damning, as he dissects the complete abandonment of standard operating procedures that were in place that fateful day Sept.11, 2001, and alerts you to a little known fact about the `official version'. The book also covers our particular brand of "friendship" with the Saudis, the corporate money trail, plus much, much, more... It took me 2 months to scour through over 150 of the footnotes I thought the most important, and in doing so I came upon much more information than I ever thought I would, stemming from various sources including trade reports, gas and oil investor news, as well a first hand statements mentioned in the book. And I have to say, that after reading and confirming what this book reveals about the true US/Taliban relationship prior to 9-11, that it is clear without a doubt, that we have an incredibly selfish and self serving foreign relationship policy, in which we will be "friends" with almost anyone as long as it serves our corporate or military interests, regardless of their human rights record. And only after the friendship sours because of lack of cooperation, will we then launch a campaign exposing them if it will serve in promoting support for disciplinary action. This may not be an easy book for some Americans to read, and I am sure that some will scoff but fail to look any further. But the case is presented before you and the author's work is done. The burden is now on you, the reader, to investigate his sources and footnotes, and determine whether this book is merely biased propaganda, or a compilation worthy of serious consideration, or indeed .. the awful truth.
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197 of 228 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This research will effectively recast history regarding 9/11, July 30, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: The War on Freedom: How and Why America was Attacked, September 11, 2001 (Paperback)
I am going to be blunt: The research behind this book will effectively recast history with respect to September 11, 2001. This brilliant UK-based author has compiled the relevant research from over 700 resources in the mainstream media and methodically and meticulously presented what the U.S. media and our government has refused to do - provide a comprehensive analysis of the events that surround that tragic day in September. I must confess, this is the most disturbing book that I have every read, and the implications about this government are so dire that it will bring tears to the eyes of the most hardened of men. I am an American and a patriot, but what the current Bush administration has done is set this country on an unavoidable collision course into a national crisis the likes of which we have not seen since the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln. This immensely important book is a virtual indictment of the current administration, and we will soon have a crisis of legitimacy, trust and confidence in our own government. I cannot begin to articulate the importance of this book to every American who wants to understand why 3000 of our fellow citizens were murdered on the that awful morning, thus I will simply post a few statements from the author and quotes from our founding fathers in the hope that God will bless this country during our impending national crisis: "As far as the facts on record are concerned, the best explanation of them, in the opinion of this author, is one that points directly to U.S. state responsibility for the events of September 11th 2001. A detailed review of the facts points not only to Kabul, but to Riyadh, Islamabad and most principally, Washington. Furthermore, in the opinion of this author, the documentation presented in this study strongly suggests, though not necessarily conclusively, that significant elements of U.S. government, military and intelligence agencies had exclusive advance warning of the September 11th attacks, and were in various ways complicit in those attacks. This is certainly not a desirable inference, but it is one that best explains the available data. At the very least then, the facts on record demonstrate with certainty an ongoing U.S. policy of willful and reckless indifferences to American lives, motivated fundamentally by strategic and economic interests. This policy has been relentlessly pursued, regardless of the dangers to American lives, of which the U.S. policy-making establishment is fully aware. This policy therefore amounts, even at the lowest possible level of involvement, to deliberate if indirect complicity in the September 11th attacks, on the part of the Bush administration. Although it is the opinion of this author that the documentation gathered strongly indicates the conscious complicity of the Bush administration in the 9/11 attacks, it should once again be emphasized that this stuffy does not aim to provide a conclusive or exhaustive analysis. It is primarily intended to collate the innumerable facts surrounding the events of September 11th, of which the public is largely unaware, and clarify them with extensive documentation. These facts have simply not been addressed in an adequate fashion in the media, and the conventional version of events officially espoused by the Bush administration, and slavishly repeated by the media and academia, fails to account for or explain them. Most commentators, including supposed critics of U.S. policy, are content to arbitrarily dismiss any discussion of the role of the U.S. government in the 9/11 as irrelevant. But as this study demonstrates, the facts on record are far too important in their implications to be dismisses by anyone who is serious about understanding the events of September 11th. In the final analysis, then, this study points to a host of unanswered questions and blatant anomalies that U.S. government, military and intelligence agencies must be forced to answer through a public inquiry. Such an inquiry is clearly a matter of the greatest urgency, and must be demanded as such by all sectors of society." "Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other...No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare." - James Madison "We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes." - President Eisenhower's Farewell speech, 1961 "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be ... The People cannot be safe without information. When the press is free, and every man is able to read, all is safe."- Thomas Jefferson "When a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security." - Thomas Jefferson "To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards out of men." - Abraham Lincoln
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